Sunday, February 24, 2013

Sleep Warm, Sleep Well, My Love

I returned home after a hectic day at work. Flopping down on my bed, I groaned as the phone in my jeans pocket poked me.

I turned around and lay on my back, pulling out the slim phone from the slim-fit jeans.

“Finally!” I exclaimed after successfully retrieving it.

There were seven missed calls from my husband, and, two text messages. Plus nearly ten WhatsApp messages. I found it odd as I clearly remembered having turned my phone’s volume to maximum before driving back home.

I checked the volume- zero. I had accidentally maximized the media volume.

“Fuck my life!” I cursed. No wonder there were this many calls and messages. Poor guy must have wanted to talk to me when he got time. He was a really busy man, staying away from home for months at a stretch, at times.

I checked the text messages.

Message One:

“Where are you? Call me back when you see this. I’ll be free till 7 PM.”

Message Two:

“You’re answering nowhere! I am worried! Please, call me.”

“Aw.” I said to myself, massaging my aching temples.

I then opened WhatsApp. Ten messages? No, I was wrong. There were fifty messages from one contact. My husband.

“There?”

“Hello?”

“Okay, you might be driving. I probably shouldn't worry.”

“But, seriously? Why do you have to keep the phone on silent?”

“This is driving me nuts! I wanna come home to you.”

“And, no, kissing you won’t be the first thing. I am gonna punch you. Stupid girl.”

…

“Call me. Please. Love you. Miss you. :(”

All this had happened over a period of one hour, the time it took me to drive home from work.

It was 7:30 PM now. Would he still be free?

I had to call him, nonetheless. I sent him one message before calling,

“I’m alive. Relax. Breathe. Sorry. Love you and miss you too. :) :*”

I dialed his number. He was busy on another call. In normal circumstances, I would’ve disconnected. But knowing his state right now, I knew he’d get mad, no, madder, if I did. He took my call after one ring,

“What the hell?” he almost screamed.

“Sorry. Forgot it on silent, again.” I had apologized innumerable times for this mistake. It was going to make him only angrier.

“Overreacting?” he was doing his best not to shout like a maniac, “You could’ve died!”

I rolled my eyes.

“You know about that headache. You could’ve passed out while driving without knowing!” he said through gritted teeth.

“I’m sorry! But you aren’t helping, you know. My head hurts, please stop being angry.”

“You still haven’t taken your tablet?” I could imagine him narrowing his eyes like he was wont to when I drove him up the wall.

“I just got home and read your messages, sent you a message and then called you.”

I heard him smack his head in frustration.

“Take your tablet, first. Please.” he inserted the ‘please’, but, it sounded like an order, anyway.

“Okay, do you want me to call back?” I asked.

“Did I ask you to disconnect? Just take the fucking tablet, already! I’ll hold! Christ! You’re gonna gimme a heart attack someday!”

“Shush! Don’t say that!”

“Mush! That’s all you can do. Are you taking the tablet?”

“M-hmm.” I answered, gulping down a glass of water.

“Do you wanna sleep now?”

“Noooooo. I wanna talk, if you can.”

“Okay.” he seemed considerably calm now, happy even, “I’ll call you back in fifteen, is that okay?”

“Sure. Love you!” I kissed him over the phone.

“Love you, too. Take care till then.”

I laughed.

"Not funny, sweetie! It's true of you. No matter how creatively talented you are, you're careless. You frequently trip over wires, bang into furniture, snub your toes, get your head hit absolutely anywhere and even fall on plane flat surfaces occasionally. Fifteen minutes and you can do anything to yourself." he ranted.

"Go away!" I said, indignant, disconnecting the call.

I maximized the correct volume this time and lay beside my phone, my head still aching. I had lied. I totally wanted to sleep, but listening to his voice was a much better option. And, I was missing him real bad.

It was difficult to stay awake. I opened the music folder in my phone and decided to listen to some songs. But, that could aggravate my headache.

My heart was saying "Yes" but my head was saying "No".

I am the one in pain, and, I can’t take anymore. So, don’t listen to him. Said my head.

I decided to listen to my head, for a change. More importantly because my friend would show up in another hour or so and if I still had a headache then, she would tattle on me to my husband and I’d be in trouble. It was not worth worrying him over.

“Okay!” I replied out loud to my brain and exited the app.

It was nearly midnight when I woke up.

“Shit!” I cursed, again.

5 missed calls and some WhatsApp messages. All from my husband. I checked the messages:

“On silent, again? I swear I’m gonna take the next flight home and give you a piece of my mind.”

“Or, did you sleep? :/”

“Sleeping is good. :)”

“Okay. Arunima is there. She told me she found you sleeping like a baby, which is a good thing. There was no food in the fridge, so you must have probably eaten it all, which is a good thing too. And, your door was locked, which is also a good thing. :D”

I could hear Arunima frantically typing away in the adjoining room.

I resumed reading the remaining messages,

“See? It’s not that hard taking care of yourself. I’ll be back home soon to take care of you. Till then, please help yourself. :P”

“Sleep, beautiful. Love you. Take care! Miss you so much.

”

I smiled happily and called him.

“Hey. You up?” I heard his sleepy voice. It was so damn sexy.

“Yeah. Sorry. You are sleeping?” I asked the stupid question.

“No.” I heard him laugh, “I miss you, love you.” he slurred.

“I love you, too. Miss you a lot.” I murmured.

And, we talked for hours. At least I did. He listened to my voice in his drowsy state and I could hear him smile, giving short replies when I least expected, making me laugh; I stopped talking when he seemed kind of asleep, listening to his even breathing that soothed me more than the tablet. We both gradually fell asleep, together, even though we were miles apart.